DOWNERS GROVE, IL – All-America Selections, currently celebrating their 85th anniversary as the only North American non-profit trialing organization for plants that demonstrate great garden performance, announce three new and exciting national AAS Winners. Each of the following varieties was trialed throughout North America by professional, independent, volunteer judges who grew them next to comparisons that are considered best-in-class.
This new group of AAS Winners for the 2018 garden season includes:
- Corn, sweet American Dream (National)
- Ornamental Pepper Onyx Red (National)
- Tomato, cocktail Red Racer F1 (National)
Previously announced AAS Winners are featured here on the AAS website.
Links on each breeding company name lead to an email address for ordering seed for the 2018 garden season. Retailers and consumers will find these AAS Winners for sale as supply becomes available through the distribution chain. Garden communicators are free to begin writing about these varieties now. Each AAS Winner will be marketed through an extensive Social Media and public relations campaign.
A list of AAS trial judges can be found here. AAS Display gardens can be found here.
PowerPoint presentations are available on SlideShare or on the AAS website.
Bench cards and variety markers can be downloaded from the AAS website; posters can be ordered from GardenCenterMarketing.com.
AAS 2018 Edible Winner
National Winner
AAS Judges selected American Dream as their top trial choice and it just so happens to come from the same company that introduced Honey ‘N Pearl, an AAS winner from 1988. In a tight trial, American Dream was pitted up against Honey ‘N Pearl and came through as the winner! With its excellent germination, very tender, super sweet kernels, this newbie will make a great addition to the home garden. American Dream matures slightly earlier than the comparisons and produces vigorous, healthy plants with cobs that have good tip fill of bi-colored kernels. Plants grow 6-7 feet tall and mature in 77 days after planting seed. Perfect fresh, roasted, grilled, canned or frozen.
Bred by, and available from Illinois Foundation Seeds, Inc. seed dealers
(Click link for order contact)
AAS® Winner Data
- Genus species: Zea mays
- Common name: Sweet corn
- Flavor: Very sweet, very tender kernels
- Size: 7 inch cobs
- Color: Bi-color, yellow and white
- Plant type: Annual
- Plant height: 76 inches
- Plant habit: Upright stalks
- Garden location: Full sun
- Garden spacing: 8 inches
- Length of time to harvest: 77 days from sowing seed
- Closest comparisons on market: Xtratender 277A and Honey ‘N Pearl
AAS 2018 Ornamental from Seed Winner
National Winner
Onyx Red is one of those stunning double-take plants that steal the show! This breeding work has resulted in an unprecedented compact, well-branched ornamental pepper adorned with eye-catching dark black foliage. The contrast between the diminutive black foliage and tons of shiny red fruits is striking and makes a bold statement in the garden. Plants are vigorous, continually growing but retain their neat, compact habit, making Onyx Red a wonderful plant for beds, borders, containers and dramatic mass plantings.
Naturally compact plants are perfect for a potted plant program as well as for an annual bedding plan where earliness and retail readiness are important factors.
(Click link for order contact)
AAS® Winner Data
- Genus species: Capsicum annuum
- Common name: Ornamental Pepper
- Flower color: Black to red fruit
- Foliage color: Black
- Flower size: 3/8 inch
- Bloom time: Late spring, summer to frost
- Plant height: 8-10 inches
- Plant type: Annual
- Garden location: Full sun
- Garden spacing: 6-8 inches
- Weather tolerance: Heat, rain
- Closest comparisons on market: Black Pearl and Black Olive
AAS 2017 Edible Winner
National Winner
Red Racer, a cocktail size tomato, produced small, uniform fruits with great taste in the AAS Trials. Cocktail tomatoes have a good sweet/acid balance and are a smaller variety tomato (although larger than cherry or grape tomatoes). These tomatoes are uniform in size and mature as a cluster of fruits. The compact determinate plants produced a huge yield 7-10 days earlier than the comparisons and are ideal for small space and container gardens. One judge summed up this winner saying “Red Racer is small in size but big in taste!”
Bred by EarthWork Seeds, Distributed by Garden Trends Wholesale
(Click link for order contact)
AAS® Winner Data
- Genus species: Solanum lycopersicum
- Common name: Cocktail tomato
- Fruit size: 1.5 inches
- Fruit shape: Round
- Fruit color: Tomato Red
- Plant type: Annual
- Plant height: 3 feet
- Plant habit: Compact determinate
- Garden location: Full sun
- Garden spacing: 24 inches
- Length of time to harvest: 57 days from transplant, 90 days from sowing seed
- Closest comparisons on market: Mountain Magic F1, Premio F1
Source: National Garden Bureau